Welcome to the November 2017 issue of the Technology Innovation Management Review. The authors in this issue share insights on developing value propositions for the Internet of Things (IoT), understanding Industry 4.0 from a social innovation perspective, leveraging third-generation living labs for collaborative innovation in cities, designing business models based on open data, and the impact of open access models on academic publishing.

Next, Rabeh Morrar, Husam Arman, and Saeed Mousaexamine the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) from a social innovation perspective. They argue that the transformation resulting from Industry 4.0 – in which “physical systems can cooperate and communicate with each other and with humans in real time, all enabled by the IoT and related services” – will bring vast opportunities but also substantial socioeconomic challenges. In the article, they propose a framework that can facilitate the ongoing interaction between technological and social innovation to yield proactive, timely, and sustainable strategies.

Then, Seppo Leminen, Mervi Rajahonka, and Mika Westerlund describe next-generation living labs in the city context. Based on 118 interviews with participants in six Finnish cities, they developed a framework for collaborative innovation networks in cities and propose a typology of third-generation living labs. Through their analysis, the authors reveal how cities can encourage collaborative innovation by leveraging platforms and participation approaches. They describe four collaborative innovation modes that characterize different types of third-generation living labs and explain how they can be exploited to encourage collaborative innovation activities in cities.

The fourth article is by Tuomo Eskelinen, Teemu Räsänen, Ulla Santti, Ari Happonen, and Miika Kajanus, who used action research methods to discover new business opportunities for an environmental monitoring service relying on open data. They applied a four-stage innovation process for industry, which included context definition, idea generation, and selection, and produced multi-criteria decision support (MCDS) data to help design a new business model. Their business model creation process can help businesses find new ideas based on open data, turn them into business models, and then improve those models using a participative approach.

In December, we feature articles based on papers presented at the 2017 ISPIM Innovation Conference in Vienna. ISPIM – the International Society for Professional Innovation Management – is a network of researchers, industrialists, consultants, and public bodies who share an interest in innovation management.

For future issues, we are accepting general submissions of articles on technology entrepreneurship, innovation management, and other topics relevant to launching and growing technology companies and solving practical problems in emerging domains. Please contact us with potential article topics and submissions.

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Chris McPhee

Technology Innovation Management Review

Chris McPhee is Editor-in-Chief of the Technology Innovation Management Review. Chris holds an MASc degree in Technology Innovation Management from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and BScH and MSc degrees in Biology from Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. He has nearly 20 years of management, design, and content-development experience in Canada and Scotland, primarily in the science, health, and education sectors. As an advisor and editor, he helps entrepreneurs, executives, and researchers develop and express their ideas.

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